A national registry of evaluation technical assistance (ETA) providers, comprised of consultants from all regions of the country as well as federal government and contractor staff, provides ETA to federally funded HIV prevention grantees, including directly funded health departments, community-based organizations, and national and regional minority organizations. The use of local or regional consultants supports the funding agency's belief that an established relationship with an evaluation consultant may increase the capacity of organizations to develop, implement, and evaluate HIV prevention programs. This presentation will review the types of ETA requests received by the funding agency (e.g., applying findings to improve programs, designing evaluations, collecting and analyzing data) and will discuss the impact of the evaluation guidance on ETA requests. The process of matching ETA providers to grantees and facilitating the provider/recipient relationship to maximize evaluation technical assistance opportunities will also be examined. Descriptive data from the ETA system, including lessons learned from both the recipient and ETA provider perspective, will be discussed, along with quality assurance provisions and additional feedback received about ETA. In addition, speakers will summarize the kinds of on-going relationships that have been developed between grantees and ETA providers. Finally, lessons learned and future plans for the implementation of additional evaluation capacity building efforts, including training and technology transfer, will be outlined.
Learning Objectives: During this session, presenters will discuss the relationship between a federal agency's guidance to health departments on evaluation of HIV prevention programs and evaluation technical assistance (ETA), describe the process of matching ETA providers to grantees and facilitating the provider/recipient relationship to maximize ETA opportunities, and discuss priorities for implementation of evaluation capacity building. At the conclusion of the session, the participants will be able to identify the types of evaluation technical assistance requests that have been received by the federal agency, articulate how the guidance document has impacted ETA requests and evaluation capacity building efforts, and describe lessons learned from the perspectives of ETA providers and ETA recipients
Keywords: Evaluation, HIV/AIDS
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.